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Who are prominent figures who promoted QAnon early on?
Executive summary
Early promoters of QAnon included a mix of fringe moderators, conservative influencers and sympathetic public figures who amplified Q’s posts from late 2017 onward; Reuters and Wikipedia trace early amplification to 4chan moderators and YouTuber Tracy Diaz, while reporting and academic sources identify public figures such as Marjorie Taylor Greene and celebrities like Roseanne Barr as important mainstream boosters [1] [2] [3]. The movement also gained external amplification from Russian-backed social accounts and later found sympathetic amplification from some Trump allies and platforms, which helped move it from obscure forums into political discourse [1] [4].
1. Origin-stage amplifiers: 4chan moderators and Tracy Diaz — the first bridge to a wider audience
Investigations show that QAnon began on 4chan in October 2017 and that two 4chan moderators — Paul Furber and Coleman Rogers — along with YouTuber Tracy Diaz (TracyBeanz) played key roles promoting QAnon to a broader online audience in November 2017, turning ephemeral forum posts into repeatable, monetized video content that reached beyond anonymous message boards [2] [1].
2. Foreign and automated boost: Russian-backed social accounts that amplified Q early
A Reuters archive analysis found that Russian-backed Twitter accounts were tweeting the QAnon hashtag thousands of times beginning in November and December 2017, making QAnon a frequent output of those accounts and giving the nascent theory an early lift in visibility on major platforms [1].
3. Influential online personalities and monetizers: the ecosystem that scaled QAnon
As Q drops proliferated, an ecosystem of influencers and video creators learned to monetize Q-related content and analysis, migrating to less-moderated platforms (Telegram, Rumble) and bringing Q themes to larger audiences; reporting describes this constellation of promoters who kept the narrative alive even after deplatforming [5].
4. Elected officials and celebrities who mainstreamed the message
Public figures gave QAnon theories more legitimacy: Marjorie Taylor Greene was among the earliest congressional promoters of QAnon publicly in late 2017 and helped normalize the ideas in political spaces, while celebrities such as Roseanne Barr amplified similar narratives in 2018, all contributing to mainstream exposure [6] [3] [7].
5. Trump’s role and sympathetic allies: amplification without full endorsement
Donald Trump repeatedly engaged with Q-associated content over time (including retweets of Q-linked accounts, estimated in academic reporting) and his rhetoric — and later actions by allies on platforms such as Truth Social — were interpreted by adherents as validation; reporters note that Trump and his circle did not always explicitly endorse QAnon but often amplified or failed to disavow its tropes, which helped the movement’s reach [3] [4] [5].
6. Platform dynamics and deplatforming/reinstatement effects
Deplatforming after January 6 reduced QAnon’s visibility on mainstream sites for a period, but changes in platform policies and ownership (for example, reinstatements on X/Twitter) and the migration to less-moderated services allowed many prominent Q promoters to return or rebuild large followings, further extending their reach [8] [9].
7. Notable named promoters repeatedly identified in reporting
Reporting and analysis repeatedly name several figures: Tracy Diaz (TracyBeanz) as an early popularizer [1]; 4chan moderators Paul Furber and Coleman Rogers as origin-stage promoters [2]; Marjorie Taylor Greene and Roseanne Barr as mainstream amplifiers [7] [3]; and a broader cohort of Q-linked influencers and podcasters who monetized the content and migrated across platforms [5] [8].
8. Limits, disagreements and what sources don’t say
Available sources document early amplifiers and external boosts but do not offer a single definitive list of “who started QAnon”; some individuals named in coverage deny involvement or downplay roles (for instance, figures linked to hosting platforms have distanced themselves), and granular attribution of who converted how many followers is not specified in the reporting provided [6] [1]. Sources do not comprehensively quantify influence per promoter or identify a sole architect of the movement [2] [1].
9. Why naming matters: political legitimacy and real-world consequences
Journalists and scholars emphasize that when elected officials or high-profile celebrities amplify fringe claims, it shifts a theory from niche internet lore into political life, with documented consequences including real-world violence and policy influence; that mainstreaming is what moved QAnon from obscure forum posts into a movement with measurable political and social effects [3] [5].
If you want, I can compile a concise list of these early promoters with a one-line summary and the specific citation for each name from the sources above.